Happy 2019! Don't Be an Asshole to New Year's Resolutioners at Your Gym

I know, I know — you've worked so hard on your tight 45-minute routine, and these newbies are just in the way. But (and this is just a thought) what if they're just as entitled to taking up space as you are?

After a sleepless night, I wake up early on a Wednesday. I’ve coaxed myself into leggings, sneakers, and a sports bra. I check the time on my phone — it’s 5:25 in the morning. I walk the few blocks to my gym, stash my stuff in a locker, and take a few deep breaths before heading out to the main room. It’s nearly barren — coming here half an hour after it opened and two hours before the sun comes up was a conscious decision. I relax a bit and go about my routine, reveling in the luxury of being here alone without any eyes on me. This has been my gym routine for as long as I’ve been going to a gym, ever since my days in college.

I go to the gym as early as I do so I can avoid the crowds, do what I'm there to do, and try to stay out of everyone’s way. When I take a spin class, I take my seat in the darkest corner of the room; at yoga, I’ll lay out my mat in the back of the studio. As both a fat person and a woman, I’ve been told my entire life that the worst thing you can do is be conspicuous or take up space.

Few places reinforce that cardinal rule more than the gym. And few times have reminded me of how I am viewed in these places quite like the start of a new year.

That "New Year, New You!" Bullshit

For as long as gyms, marketers, and people pushing fad diets have been promoting their “New Year, New You!” messaging and selling everything from in-home workout equipment to impossible-to-cancel gym memberships, gym regulars have loathed the presence of the dreaded “New Years resolutioner.”

The rhetoric of disdain can make the quest for self-betterment feel
discouraging, if not outright impossible.

The New Year's resolutioner shows up at the gym after the New Year in a bid to improve their health or fitness. As the tale goes, the resolutioner may only stick with such a change for a few weeks, but during those weeks, they’ll inconvenience everyone else by walking on the treadmill or daring to use the Stairmaster. Needless to say, their mere presence rankles the regulars.

“When will this hell end?” The Daily Beast moaned in 2015. The following year, another blogger complained, “[T]he regulars at the gym hate you. Why? Because you take up space and steal our machines,” declaring war on the resolutioners. And yet despite a war being declared upon them, it would appear that the main crimes of the resolutioner are simply being new at the gym, taking up space, and doing the same exercises as everyone else — all this for a month or two, and then failing to stick with it.

While the anti-newbie sentiments can ring quite loudly, the naysayers are actually a vocal minority of gymgoers. In reality, most people at the gym are friendly and helpful, or are otherwise just suffering through the same level-13 incline hike as the newly resolute. But mentally, the gym can be an intimidating place, especially for new members who don't yet know how to navigate the space, people with differently-abled bodies, folks with eating disorders and complicated relationships with exercise, and fat people. This rhetoric of disdain can make the quest for self-betterment feel even more discouraging, if not outright impossible.

Going to the gym — and just existing while fat — already means being steeped in the judgment of others on a regular basis. I can feel it from “regulars” at the gym if I want to do an extra five minutes on the elliptical or use free weights, even on a random morning in August. It's especially tangible in January when the gym is more packed than ever.

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Pro Tip: Being Kind Is Free

The thing is, those with New Year's resolutions are there for the same reasons the regulars are — for fitness, for health, because one can only watch so many episodes of 90-Day Fiance before just having their body fuse with their couch. While it may be annoying that your routine takes a few minutes longer because of the time of year, acknowledging that people care about their health or fitness enough to try something new is actually pretty admirable.

It costs exactly zero dollars to be kind to new people at your gym who might already be uncomfortable just being there.

If you're a regular and someone new is using a machine you normally use, don’t stand there, tapping your foot while waiting for them to be done — instead, consider skipping to the next part of your routine and coming back 15 minutes later instead of making them uncomfortable. And if it really bothers you that the gym is suddenly packed, try going at a different time. But for the love of all that is good in the world, don’t write a sanctimonious Facebook post about how people should or shouldn’t behave at the gym just so you can get out of there more quickly.

You don’t have to hold anyone’s hand or even be outwardly nice to anyone, but you also don’t need to wish that the resolutioners fail just so you no longer have to share oxygen with them at the gym after work. In short, just be a decent person. It’s actually not that hard at all, and it costs exactly zero dollars to be kind to new people at your gym who might already be uncomfortable just being there in the first place.